LEGACY OF IRAQ

The legacy of Iraq

I'm not sure how I feel about the Iraq war. I was talking to Mr Camel and we both agreed that we were pretty much against huge amounts of missiles being fired on a country from a great distance. Calling it "Shock and Awe" was ridiculously stupid.

I was on the big march the other day, but not fully behind it. I don't see Iraq and Afghanistan as black and white issues. I also don't see those who think they lead moves for change in this country as credible. I heard George Galloway saying that the "movement" had "Maybe been a bit too law abiding and a bit too peaceful". OK George where were you when children tried to stop the country? Why did you leave them to be picked up by the throat like kittens? YOU SAID we were going to try and stop the country.



You're full of shit George. Don't worry, I didn't try and stop the country either. As I said, it's not a black and white issue. In 2003, as lots of bombs were being dropped, it was for school kids.

thanks to Flee

see also Where did the anti-war protest go?
and Gungho media

YES HE CAN

Forming a more perfect union "requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams," said the Illinois senator running to be the first black president.

"This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected," he said.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER JOURNALISTS WHO CAN'T DO THEIR JOBS PROPERLY?

Right you've read the bollocks. Here, EXCLUSIVELY ON THIS BLOG until the SUN decide to fucking steal it and call it THEIR EXCLUSIVE: The Real Osama Bin London. It seemed pretty obvious to me that the real story was at Speakers Corner, and I wasn't disappointed. I wonder if the fuckers will dawdle down to Speakers Corner to get their version. Idiots.

Do also read African Neocon's version of the Mohammed Hamid story.

They guy who was appears in the still shot here for whatever reason accused me of "clever" editing on this one so do listen to his Our Media Radio Edit for the fuller picture. Heikoo seemed pleased with it.

IT WOS THE SUN WOT RIPPED ME OFF!!

Ha ha ha ha check this out. The Sun, the nations biggest selling daily are ripping my work off and passing it as their own "exclusive". Ha ha ha ha. Its even got my logo in the corner! 3 min 50 is fair use? I don't fucking think so motherfuckers.


If you click on their video channel here and click in the "roo player" (?) on "Sun Exclusive" scroll down to "Words of Evil".

Let them get away with it and IT WILL BE YOU NEXT!!!

Quite amazing exclusive interview with Simon Mann in Equatorial Guinea, also behind the scenes of a crack down raid on Bradford's scag heads on Channel 4 News tonight.

WEIGHT HAS BEEN LIFTED

OK lovely weekend. I am happy, Musa is happy, Atilla's wife is happy. Atilla was apparently in tears of joy that he didn't get IPP'd. Incarceration has had a transforming effect, long may it continue. Obviously I wonder if our country hadn't been involved in ariel bombardment and occupation of Islamic countries whether Hamid and Atilla would have said these words. I think they are British and Britain made them. It was only when the tapes got released that I heard what I thought of in court as a non commital mumble after Hamid's "breakfast" comments as Atilla saying "I know." I am glad now, that the Police moved when they did. Musa said in court that the Police knew that Atilla was falling away from Hamid's group and that he wasn't the emir, still they recorded what Atilla said.

Obviously the Police can only try and stop atrocities in this country they can't solve the wider picture we are all a part of which has involved unaccounted for atrocities in Iraq who no one will be brought to justice for. That is up to us. I hope Atilla will be able to maintain his Islamic faith and move in a more positive direction. Musa tells me he is reading the Koran properly inside and it has been a revelation to him. When he gets out he wants to concentrate entirely on his family who he is sorry he has neglected.

I didn't realise until Saturday quite how much tension this has been for me since 2003. It could have ended much much worse in ways I don't want to think about. Saturday night we managed to score a full Tama drum kit off of Freecycle. I knew it was worth joining Hampstead freecycle as when I was squatting up there I found expensive French cookware and suchlike thrown in the street. The only thing the kind family whose son has just left for college asked was that we make a donation to Gt. Ormond st childrens hospital so the next gig will be for that.

We picked it up from a street almost parallel to Bishop's Avenue and went off to play a gig in North London with some of the Random Artist posse. I wasn't sure how we would be received as every other act involved rappers. We finally took to the stage about 1 AM, playing into a techno, almost gabba track the DJ was playing. Me and fastfingers particularly enjoy this as we often jam along to techno, but on a proper rig we could actually match it in terms of fullness of sound. The DJ managed to flick the cross fader a couple of times crashing us in at full tilt which felt fucking great.

I think this is the first time we have played through a proper techno rig as opposed to a band PA and it really payed off especially for Mr fastfingers. I could hear every slap and the whole phasing effect. It was like techno bass guitar. I think we need to buy one of these rigs. Unfortunately I couldn't really hear myself properly as the monitor didn't work and my amp just isn't loud enough to monitor from. I could hear when I was playing the wrong note, when I played the right one it slipped into the mash. Obviously in a situation where if you can't hear yourself you are doing the right thing is not ideal but I'm not bothered as we had probably the best audience at any gig we have done so far, we jumped about like lunatics and the dancers were fucking fantastic.

A few people said the set was a bit short and I got lost a bit for the slow stuff in the middle as I don't know how to play funk but we got a lot of good feedback from the audience and the "What the fuck is this" looks when we started were priceless. I particularly love the way the dancers cook dinner and have a chat in the afternoon before the gig, and when I open the dressing room door to tell them we are about to go on they are fully costume and colour coordinated, totally original every time as if they have been meticulously designed by a stylist.

It's really nice to see the Random Artist guys, crusty and anti-establishment as ever still in spontaneous messy creativity mode, focusing on what they can achieve with African children, totally self-funded by parties such as these rather than what they can't achieve protesting here. Do watch the film Invisible Children if you can. Whatever your political persuasion, the stories of the child soldiers of Northern Uganda will move you. There is a "makings of" on google video but it's a bit shit compared to the real thing which you really must watch.

I have turned such a corner here I have been thinking about leaving this blog here and starting a new one. Obviously I'd still like to finish a film when Atilla gets out. Thanks for the encouragement from all sides of the Political spectrum.

I am currently working on a gonzo edit of stuff from Hamid's friends and enemies at Speakers Corner last weekend. I've been a bit tardy but it will be up soon.

MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR

I've got to hand it to the Sun, doing what they do best. They've got Atilla disco dancing.

Burly Ahmet used to be a hard-drinking minder for a Turkish crime family before coming under the influence of preacher of hate Abu Hamza. Ex-pals told how he used to love ogling £1-a-time strippers at the grubby Railway Tavern pub in New Cross, South London. One friend said: “He spent all his time chasing women and drinking lager, eight or nine pints a night.

“But the only thing he was really religious about was strippers. I don’t think he ever missed a Thursday night. It was a dive and the women were ropey but Atilla loved it. He was always first to slip the girls a quid.”

Years later he was seen outside the US Embassy in London shouting: “So expect retaliation Mr Bush, Mr Blair. You may embrace Islam or die by the sword

It should say Al-Faisal and Abu Hamza. I wonder where they got the last quote from?

WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW IS...

I don't get this.

Times, Telegraph, Reuters, Guardian, Press Association, BBC,

OK I stand corrected. The BBC has a little bit about what happened today.

I turned up early to Belmarsh Magistrates court thankful (hopeful?) that it would be my last time as I really got to hate the place, the people, the whole fucking costume drama of it all except for a couple of prison officers, a couple of journalists and the cop on the tape machine. I realised it would get more painful when I saw the whole of Atilla's family, friends , family friends and their kids there including Atilla's elderly mother.

Paul, Atilla's solicitor came by and said that a German friend of the family and his brother Musa would be the only character witnesses they would call.

"Is David Farrell doing this?" I asked. "I am so sick of that mans voice.."

"Thats why we are not calling you.." said Paul.

Months and months ago now I spoke to Paul at BSB and we thought I might be a good character witness, being such an obvious kaffir who Atilla hadn't threatened to kill. Atilla's guilty plea changed things a bit. For whatever reason I was relieved that they didn't call me. They probably read all this and reconsidered. No matter. It's been good to stay below the radar as it were if only for the sake of objectivity.

I didn't realise Hamid was due for sentencing as well and was surprised to see his daughter. Yasser and Kemal turned up, the gallery which had only seen a few of us previously was full. Hamid came up smiling, with bright eyes, another big guy without a beard didn't. It took me a long while to realise this must be Atilla. No one had prepared me for the sight of Atilla without a beard. I really couldn't get the hang of it for a long time. Throughout the day whenever he got up I would look at his beardless chin. I felt like I was looking at his face with the beard crossed out.

David Farrell got up and summarised the case. The judge then spoke a bit, interpreting the verdict of the jury, as they had acquitted Hamid of a few charges. He spoke about the 21/7 bombers and said that Hamid's connection with their acts hadn't been sought or proved to any great extent. Joel Bennathan spoke about Hamid. I wish I could remember what he said, I can't. Atilla's QC spoke about the letters the judge had received including a long letter from Atilla himself. The Judge said he hadn't read them and adjourned for a tense twenty minutes.

When we came back Atilla's QC introduced their German family friend who said she had always known Atilla and didn't consider his views to be extreme. He then called Musa and asked him about Atilla's change of heart since his guilty plea and serving his sentence. Musa was very emotional and said that Atilla had only done security at Finsbury park and that he wasn't Hamza's right hand man. He wasn't knowledgeable about the Koran and had been pushed forward because he looked tough. He said his brother had been dazzled by his media image and always turned up with newspaper articles which he featured in. He had said stupid things. Musa himself had broken up Dan River's infamous interview, unhappy with what his brother was doing. He said he had advised his brother to give it all up and the family had plans to move to Cyprus. He said the Police knew this.

The QC again invited Musa to bear witness to Atilla's change of heart whilst inside. In the stand, defending his own blood he didn't notice and carried on saying that his brother would never commit an act of terrorism. It could be his own family on the tube or on a bus.

I turned to Yassar and whispered "He's not answering the question..."

The QC said a bit more about Atilla's custody having a positive effect. He said he was a broken man. It quickly became obvious that the judge was having none of it. He had read all the letters and translated what Atilla's QC was presenting as remorse as "unattractive self-pity." The QC asked for some sort of report to be done on Atilla's state of mind. The judge almost imperceptibly shook his head.

"What more do I need?" I think he seemed to be saying "I've been listening to this guy on tape for the last two months.."

I saw David Farrell smile.

The QC was floundering but spoke about another letter which he had only seen himself that morning. The judge said he would check his chamber over lunch to see whether it had fallen out of his files. The QC said it was the only copy.

Outside Paul tried to reassure everyone and said that if the letter wasn't located he would ask for an adjournment. We were all skeptical as it was pretty obvious that the judge didn't like Atilla from what he had heard on the tapes at all. A very nervous hour passed for the families bouyed somewhat by Musa's courageous sense of humor. I became aware that the letters "IPP" had been brought up in relation to Atilla and that this wasn't good. It meant that a person was Imprisoned for Public Protection, only to be released when the court decided they were no longer a threat.

We went back in. Atilla came in motioning with his finger across his own neck, obviously distraught. It was horrible watching his mother try to console him.

The judge had found the letter which turned out to be from none other than the "Director of Race Relations" or something like that from Belmarsh. In the letter he stated that Atilla had been of excellent character, had spoken against extremism on a number of occasions and had once stopped a prison officer being attacked by an inmate. This seemed to have an effect on the judge. He said that Dawood (the undercover cop) had himself said that Atilla was more "tactful" in real life than his preaching would suggest. Atilla's QC, quick to follow this mentioned a letter the judge had from someone who had been filming Atilla over many months who had said much the same thing.

"Who was that then?" I asked Yasser who shrugged his shoulders..

Judge retired to consider his verdict.

When he came back he said that although Hamid was a charming fellow, he used his charm to recruit terrorists. Although it seemed this recruiting was for acts abroad, that was still terrorism. He accepted that Hamid exaggerated, but said that exaggeration was intended to recruit people. He said Hamid hadn't shown remorse and he remained a danger to the public. He sentenced him to seven and a half years.

Turning to Atilla, he said he was an attention seeker, he didn't have good knowledge of the Koran. He also seemed to criticize him for not going on terror training camps because he was too lazy, which was a bit of a surprise. He said that although Atilla hadn't pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, he was satisfied that he had pleaded guilty in time to aid proceedings. He was also happy that Atilla had reformed somewhat and was no longer a danger to the public.

He sentenced him to six years and 11 months which means (we think) he'll do another 22 months.

It appeared to me that he liked Hamid, but thought he was a danger, he didn't like Atilla but thought he wasn't.

Twice the judge had said "Anyone serious about terrorism would stay well clear of Atilla Ahmet" which was more or less word for word what I have been saying for a while. Before I left I heard him commend all the QCs. Hamid's daughter was obviously devastated, Atilla's family were very, very relieved.

Speaking to Atilla's wife a bit earlier we agreed that Atilla had done the right thing pleading guilty and was on a clear pathway now. He has the same amount of time again as he has already served to do, but he is capable of doing it and more importantly has time to think and to make real plans. He is no longer in the boiling pot of fundamentalist dreamers who have all deserted him. He can take his time to do right by real people who have stuck by him.

I would have thought "Hamza's number 2's" change of heart would be more of a news story. Maybe those who write these stories aren't ready for such a truly radical concept yet. Personally I am happy. I had contact with Newsnight and The Times about a story behind all this. In the circumstances I am really, really glad that didn't work out and the story is not coming out here either. Now hopefully I can get on with some fucking music.

EXPERIMENTATION

via Paula


also:

Channel 4: The UN report says the lenient treatment of celebrities is regrettable and sends wrong messages to young people.

BORIS FOR MAYOR

London Mayoral candidate Boris Johnson says he will allow motorcycles to use bus lanes in the city, if he is elected to the post during polling in May.

RADICALIZATION

there is "an urgent requirement" to understand the impact of the number of terrorist prisoners in high security prisons: "As it stands, there is no intervention available to us to counter terrorist behaviour or to counter the threat of radicalisation. The impact of terrorists on prison regimes in general can be particularly disruptive."

LIFE OF BRIAN

...Whenever I went out on night patrol with one particular pandacar driver, the first stop was the "tube station" - the off-licence.

We would buy a couple of "tubes" of Foster's lager which we stowed under the front passenger seat. We would wait for a lull, go to Kentucky Fried Chicken and then sit in the car eating and drinking lager.

In those days the unofficial policy was to try to avoid arresting people for drink-driving - because police were drink-driving themselves...

There is too much wisdom here to quote check it out yourself.

YOU ARE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE

I went down to Mohammed Hamid's spiritual home, Speaker's Corner today to gauge the reaction to his conviction amongst his friends and enemies there. People are really tricky to get on camera because everyone thinks everyone else is MI-5. I got what I was looking for, an edit is coming. Meanwhile-

I felt that I couldn't just "Go to Speakers Corner" so with a sense of occasion befitting such a grand national institution I made a placard last night and had a bit of a rant myself. I was a bit stoned when I wrote the placard, hence the two "ARE's" but I think it still works no? Speakers Corner really is one of the wonders of the world.

Thanks to African Neocon for filming me.

YES HE CAN

Meanwhile Here's Some Music...

OK. I've been reading papers, Mrs Ahmet's been reading papers, Hamid's daughter's been reading papers...

There is a bit more from the two Musa's on the BBC site. I had no idea Musa Ahmet was going to talk to the BBC.

Its probably best if I don't write anything just yet. I've got a very different story to the ones I've been reading anyway. I'll write more after sentencing. Meanwhile, here's some music.

MOHAMMED HAMID GUILTY

My films featuring Mohammed Hamid are here and here.

I knew about this a few days ago. I think the reporting restrictions were to do with the last trial from the Bridge to China raid in which the defendants pleaded guilty today.

The trial and conviction of Mohammed Hamid has been one of the most important counter-terrorism prosecutions since 9/11

The Radicaliser and the Bombers

Mohammed Hamid 'is evil personified'

Top Terror Recruiter Found Gulity

Analysis: terror camp convictions mark end of the Hamza network

Guardian, The Press Association, Yahoo

"Breakfast" on Youtube

Channel 4 News

Sky (I think)


As reporting restrictions have been lifted I will reintroduce some of the comments which appeared on my blog regarding this trial which I feared could be regarded as contempt of court issues. As regulars will know I sat upstairs for as much of this trial as I could get to, often with Hamid's daughter and Atilla's brother Musa.

What is of interest, if you wade through some of these articles is that the jury found Hamid not guilty on charges of incitement attached to Atilla Ahmet. What does this mean? That they thought neither was inciting or just that Hamid wasn't? I don't know how this will affect Atilla's sentencing.

You will see on the BBC Website Musa Brown and Musa Ahmet gave an interview to Daniel Sandford. Musa (Ahmet) called and told me he said a lot more about his brother which wasn't included. Daniel had asked me for some footage of Hamid and Atilla together. I had to turn him down because Musa and Atilla were unhappy with the way it would be used. (see Atilla's wifes comment)

I will post the links of updated blogs here when it is all in order, I'll also try and get some sort of reaction from Hamid's daughter. Give me half a day or so..

UPDATE:

Musa Ahmet and Atilla's wifes comment reintroduced on STRANGE BREAKFAST

African Neocon comment on ITS NOT FUNNY ANYMORE

Anonymous comment on VERY CROSS EXAMINATION

I have also updated my own scrawls on posts ONES SEVENS NINES AND ELEVENS, ITS NOT FUNNY ANYMORE, CONSPIRACY THEORIES, ATILLA STRIKES OIL

Also coming up I have video interviews with a couple of people arrested and released in the Bridge to China raid.

Thanks for the interest from all sides in my work on this subject.

..

IT RHYMES

Here's a good one- HAMZAS MATES NEW WEB OF HATE

A PAL of hook-handed Abu Hamza is continuing a war of hate against Britain — after being DEPORTED.

Evil Adbullah al-Faisal, 44, jailed here in 2003 for soliciting the murder of Jews and Americans, is mounting an internet campaign from his homeland Jamaica. The preacher of hate — an associate of notorious rabble-rouser Hamza — was kicked out after his release last year. He is now raising cash from followers so he can carry on his wicked doctrine on the web. In an interview posted on an extremist British website, he defends terrorism and appeals for funds for equipment to broadcast online and to pay for an international “lecture tour”. He says Allah will “reward” those who donate.

I've been speaking to Hajj a bit recently about "Hamza's mate" Adbullah al-Faisal. He said that just before Al-Faisal was arrested he spoke ill of Hamza. Hajj was angry and asked him to take it back. Apparently Hamza challenged him to a public debate which he didn't turn up to or wriggled out of. Hajj went to where the debate was supposed to happen (Finsbury Park Mosque I think) listened to Hamza speak and stuck with Hamza from then on. He said Al-Faisal wouldn't hurt a fly. He just "Got angry" when he preached.

Apparently when Al- Faisal was deported after his release he was offered to appear on Al-Jazeera etc, but the only media appearance he would accept was Jamaican TV. Jamaica, being a very religious place (I think there are more churches per head than anywhere else) has a popular show on TV every Sunday night called Religious hard Talk. I haven't seen it all the way through, I think the DVD is in two parts. A taster of the second part, where he debates a christian preacher is on youtube. As you can see, the presenter isn't really frightened of Al Faisal is he-



Hajj said that Faisal doesn't get any trouble in Jamaica because Jamaicans are aware of global conspiracies of the world powers. Speaking to people in Jamaica I noticed no one had any love for US and UK foreign policy. I'm sure they wouldn't have any problems with his views about homosexuality as it is illegal there.

SHARIA STORMS...

SHARIA STORM GROWS

MUSLIM radicals have demanded Sharia law across Britain “without compromise”.

Extreme Islamics said the hardline system – where people are punished by stoning and beheading – is the future.

Speaking at a meeting in Birmingham, Abu Ibraheem said: “Let us make this absolutely clear. Islam is not subject to dilution, compromise or relegation.

“The behaviour of some Muslims is failing miserably to meet these commands.”

Maybe I should head up to Birmingham, I still have friends up there. this is fairly typical of British Fundie mentality. Arhbishop talks about introducing parts of Shariah, small group of Muslims protest that he's not talking about introducing the whole of Shariah, stoning and all.

Charlie Wilsons War

Just finished the book, its actually more extreme than the film. The truth being even stranger than the adjustments of it the director made to fit his story. You wouldn't get Michael Winterbottom doing that- but I enjoyed the film too so I won't gripe. I was ribbing my Texan republican blogger pals about their tax dollars financing this jihad, reading the details of the story is mind boggling. I couldn't put it down and would recommend it to anyone of any political persuasion.

Doing a bit of background I found an interesting doco from Kandahar, which starts pre-Soviet invasion and an interview with a Russian Helicopter pilot.

The book is quite painful. Some incredibly funny and crazy things happen whilst you are constantly aware of how many people are suffering and dying. I read the book wondering whether the connections between right wing fundamentalist Texans and Afghan fundies could be reignited toward some sort of solution, but it looks like Charlie Wilson kept to his "minds eye view" of the jihad rather than getting to know any Jihadi's, except Zia of course. Charles Schnabel "The Other Charlie" is the only real hopeful and I can't find a lot of reference to him online.

I really, really don't get war. I think I've been very lucky in my life. I thank whatever forces created me every day. I am trying to make out what Jihadi's would think about an Infidel who pickled his heart in alcohol financing their Jihad.

ABU AZIZ

Looking thru my footage I knocked up another quick edit.

This is Abu Aziz, refered to in the news at the time as Abu Hamza's "Press Secretary". He was usually like this with journalists. I think he is still at large though I haven't seen or heard of him in years.

You get a bit of my "technique" with the fundies at the end. The Bin Laden look alike in the last shot called himself "Abu Jihad" and gave an interview to ITN outside the Old Bailey during Hamza's courtcase (later) saying "The Black Flag of Islam will one day fly over Downing st." He was one of the friendliest people outside the mosque.